Starmaker
by Destana
Summary: Legend I wrote about a girl and her contribution to her people. Through her childlike forgiveness she gives the whole world a gift they'll never forget. I copied and pasted it from Microsoft Word, so sorry about the title randomly appearing everywhere


Starmaker

Long, long ago, the sky at night was a void of pure darkness. Brave hunters who needed to hunt overnight were constantly getting lost and stranded. The lucky ones found their way back home when the sun came up the next morning and illuminated the earth. The unlucky ones were usually never seen again. This was the way it had been for over 100 years, and not even the oldest in the village could remember a time when the night sky wasn't as black as sin itself. It was in this time that a girl named Star was born.

On one particular day, Star, now 8 years old, was skipping carefree down a dusty road, humming a cheerful tune under her breath. She carried a basket of fruits tightly in one hand. They were much too heavy for her but she refused to leave any behind, wanting to proudly bring them back to her village. Some of the strangers who saw her briefly warned her not to walk too close to the river, but without stopping what they were doing. She smiled back and assured them she wouldn't, but they had already turned back towards their homes. Soon only Star was left.

Star started to walk more quickly. By the time she realized she was going the wrong way, she was completely lost. She wished there were someone she could ask for help. Unknown to her, some people did see her just then, but all they saw was a little girl who was obviously far from home, but who looked like she knew exactly where she was going. It was getting dark, so they didn't see

Starmaker

how wide Star's eyes were with uncertainty, or the way she nervously shifted her

basket from one hand to the other. Other than the gradual slowing down of her steps, there was nothing that gave away the fact that she'd been walking for hours. Those who saw her shrugged and went back to their homes. If they had only looked closer, they would have seen her get into a cave, the only shelter for miles. They would have seen the rockslide coming down in front of the cave's entrance. They might have even seen the flicker of her candle going out as Star fell and stayed completely still.

The next day found the leaders of Star's village deep into a discussion as heated as the now-rising sun.

"There simply isn't enough time in a day," one woman was saying "for our hunters to travel far enough away from camp, find food, and bring it back before the sun goes down!"

"The fact still remains," one man interjected "We can't send out our village people to hunt at night. We might as well be blindfolding them and ordering them to their deaths!

"Perhaps if we went out in larger groups-" started another person.

"That will only scare everything within 10 miles away!" interrupted someone else.

And on and on the meeting went, without anything being resolved.

The village leader finally stood up. "Before we end this meeting, are there any more orders of business?

Starmaker  
"A young girl went missing yesterday, according to her friends and neighbors," someone spoke up. "They're requesting a search party be sent out."

The village leader smacked his palm down on the table, harder than he'd intended, judging from his wince. "Have you not been listening to a word that's been said? We can't spare the resources for that!" He looked around the room. "Nothing further? Then this meeting is over."

Star woke not knowing how long she'd been in the cave. With no light shining through it was impossible to tell if an hour or a day had passed.

She had dreamed of a voice coming to taunt her.

"They're not coming." He said to her. "They won't bother trying to find you."

Star turned her back on him and ignored him. She wasn't going to listen to an invisible voice that didn't exist.

But real or not, he was very persistent. "They haven't even noticed you're missing," he continued.

"Yes they have," she answered him. Then quietly, she repeated to herself "Surely they have."

"You're not that far from you're village" the voice persisted. "If they'd come to look for you, you would have heard them."

"Stop it! Be quiet!" She yelled out loud.

She didn't go back to sleep after that, but instead daydreamed about someone finding her, picturing what they'd say and what she'd say.

Starmaker

Back at the second village meeting that had been called in one day, all eyes were on the man who was speaking. "The people of our village who went out in search of food knew the risks and choseto venture out in spite of them. This young girl, 'Star'- did she have that choice?"

His question was followed by an uncomfortable silence. Many of them didn't agree with allowing children so young to go so far from home, but they had long ago run out of adult volunteers.

"We don't want to risk a whole search party's safety for one person," the leader said. As people started to protest he continued: "However, if she still hasn't turned up by tomorrow morning we'll start looking for her. "

Star realized she had fallen asleep when someone awakened her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Sir Maxton," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I came to keep you company. And to keep that annoying voice away"

She was too tired to question his logic. "Strange I'm not hungry anymore," she said to him. "I suppose I'll save these berries for the people that find me."  
Sir Maxton looked at Star sadly. "I'm afraid it's too late for that," he said.

Star looked up at him, puzzled. Then she looked down at herself and understood.

Hours later, Star stared up at the black, empty night sky that matched what she was feeling perfectly.

"Sir Maxton, what are we still doing here, on earth?"

Starmaker

Sir Maxton thought for a minute before answering. "You're supposed to give these people something. No one can make you, of course, and I can understand why you wouldn't want to now, but…" he stopped speaking and started pacing in distress. "Oh, his is not the way things were supposed to happen!" He paused. "Star, if it helps, I checked in on your village. News of your death has traveled far and wide. People have come from all over, bringing candles to light for you. They did come looking for you. Not soon enough, but they did come."

Star smiled her first smile in a long time. This news alone would have been enough for her to happily forgive the village, but there was more to come.

Sir Maxton eyes suddenly widened in surprise. "Evidently I was wrong about them... about your faith in them."

"What do you mean?" asked Star.

Sir Maxton smiled. "Listen carefully," he said.

Suddenly, from a place very far away she was she heard voices, singing. The voices rang out and carried across miles of land and over the river to reach her ears. Star quickly covered the space between them. She looked at the large crowd in amazement. "I didn't think they cared…" She said to herself.

Suddenly an inspiration came to her, and she thought: "I want to make a way for people to find their way in the dark, so no one will ever be alone at night like I was." Suddenly a gust of wind came and the candle flames were carried into the night sky. Out of the fire from those candles Star made a beautiful creation that could be seen from anywhere in the world, tiny specs of fire and gasses that the people called Stars, after Star.

Star was welcomed into heaven, but she likes to sit on a throne made especially for her, the moon. Sir Maxton is always a welcome guest, but in truth it is Star's moon. Luckily she has learned not to be insulted when referred to as "The _Man_ on the Moon." She has leaned mischief over the years, and sometimes makes an old star disappear and a new one appear. The universe is a lot like life, according to her. It's so beautiful it can take your breath away, and then there are the black holes that suck up every bit of light and try to take over with their never ending darkness.

And so here ends the story of Starmaker, also known as Starpainter, Starshaper or Star-Composer, depending on how you translate it from the language of ancient times. However you think of her, just remember her as you look up at the night sky and all it's beauty. She is there to be with the lost and lonely people of the world. She's there to show them the way home, along with being a constant reminder to them that they are not alone. 

8


End file.
